Town Hall Meeting Discussing Pebble Mine

Anchorage TV station KTUU was on the scene on Wednesday when a town hall meeting in Anchorage discussed the Pebble Mine  (here’s some video too).

Here’s more from reporter Kalinda Kindle on the meeting that included opponents of the mine. The CEO of Pebble Parternship, Tom Collier, who announced a smaller-scale version of the mining plan in the fall, showed up also as an observer:

The revised plan includes shrinking the mine’s size by 56-percent and adding environmental safeguards, like eliminating the cyanide plant, according to Pebble Limited Partnership.

“It’s exactly what we have been talking about the past few weeks in terms of a smaller project and one that is much more environmentally sensitive.” Tom Collier, CEO of Pebble Limited Partnership said.

Opponents dug into what they warn are Pebble Mine’s problems.

“The material is the worst it could possibly be, the location is the greatest challenge you can come up with and the size is beyond our imagination,” Rick Halford, former Senate President said.

Halford said the mine could lead to devastating outcomes.

“You end up with powdered sulfur that is now reactive and that is what acid mine drain is based on. It dissolves all the minerals in the water column, it is very dangerous, it is proven worldwide to be a disaster for fisheries.” Halford said.